New Thinking at the TRG

Up until now the TRG blog has mainly dealt with comments on current media stories and news of the TRG itself. From today, we are also hosting articles and discussions on a wider variety of topics under the title of TRG By Invitation.

The articles in this section will be longer in length than typical blog entries and will be written, as the name implies, by political figures that we have invited to discuss a particular topic. A list of the most recent articles will appear in the right-hand menu on the main TRG blog site and a complete list will be maintained in the section overview.

We are launching TRG By Invitation with two articles on the up coming local elections. Annabel Goldie MSP writes about the Scottish Parliamentary Elections and Nick Bourne AM, leader of the Conservatives in the Welsh Assembly and a TRG Patron, examines the prospects for All Change in Wales.

A major part of the value of these contributions will be the comments left by the readers of this blog so please add your thoughts, however short or long. We look forward to some fascinating discussions emerging!

Blair and the Americans

Isn’t amazing, given how hard he tries, that Blair seems to annoy the US administration so often?

It seems that when he called off the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation of BAe into Saudi export contracts, the Americans lodged a formal diplomatic complaint, according to this BBC story.

Some are still arguing about the rights and wrongs of this decision, whether national interest (meaning export orders) should have over-ridden moral concerns and principles, but that was not something that seems to have troubled Blair. In making the decision he did he may have forgotten that Bush is a man who has one-to-one conversations with God and who, for all of his mistakes, takes principles seriously.

More seriously than Blair, he seems to think.

Goodbye, Boris

Boris Yeltsin passed away on Monday.

The Russian government has made the decision to honour him with a national day of morning and his body will lie in state in Moscow ahead of his funeral on Wednesday.

For all of his faults, including the manner of the invasion of Chechnya and his well-publicised drinking, Boris Yeltsin was a remarkable man. His actions in 1991 when he led the resistance to the anti-Gorbachev coup rescued the USSR and the rest of the World from a potentially dark period of tensions and a return to the Cold War. As President, he gave more political freedoms to the Russian people than they had ever previously enjoyed. His actions did as much as those of anyone to bring the final stages of Cold War tensions to an end and we have much to collectively thank him for.

The Future of the NHS

Last night the TRG held one of our regular policy suppers for members. The guest was Andrew Lansley and the topic was what we need to do to save the NHS. We had an excellent discussion and Andrew was very good indeed and a couple of photos will appear on our Flikcr site shortly.

Our policy supper events are held in private and we do not publicise what is discussed. However, it was really positive to see such an important plank in the Party’s renewal dealt with so well. I confess that I have had my doubts in the past as to whether we would be able to make a success of placing the NHS at the heart of our agenda, but I am now convinced that we can.

There are significant issues, though. There are many complicated issues that need to be communicated to the electorate and that will take time, but we can do it and we should all feel confident that the NHS is safe with Conservatives.

Update: 25 April 2007

Lovely little piece on Nick Robinson’s Blog about  Tory’s being cheered by NHS junior doctors. If we have them on side, maybe we really can make the changes the NHS needs.

Conservative Dyke

The story has been revealed that Greg Dyke, formerly of the BBC, has considered running for London Mayor.

However, a key detail is not being widely reported by the press and that is that Dyke approached the Conservative Party, not the other way around.

Dyke’s idea was based on his disillusionment as a long-term Labour Party supporter and (I believe) donor. He wanted to stand as an independent and had asked the Lib-Dems and the Tories to endorse him while not putting forward anyone of their own.

It was wise of the Conservative leadership not to dismiss a successful figure with wide name recognition, like Greg Dyke, out of hand. The Lib-Dems are apparently not able to entertain the idea because of limits in their constitution, but with no such limits on the Tories it is right that the party leadership considered all of the options.

In the end, I think it would have been wrong if we had chosen to be part of this plan, but it would have been worse to have said no without thinking.

Alan Johnston

The TRG would like to offer our voice of support to the BBC’s campaign to highlight the kidnapping of Alan Johnston in Gaza last month.

We wish him and his family well and hope his safe release proves to be imminent.

Trimble to Become Tory Peer

According to a report on the BBC website, former Ulster Unionist-leader and Noble Peace Prize winner David Trimble is now expected to join the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.

David Trimble is a brave and courageous man. His role in the Northern Ireland peace process was immense and it is not trite to argue that it is unlikely that there would be peace today if it was not for the role he and John Hume played during the 1990’s, when John Major’s government initiated the process that led to the Good Friday Agreement.

If the story is correct, David Trimble should be made welcome within the Conservative Party. He is a decent and honourable man. He will do us proud.

Gordon in a spin

The story of the morning is that the Chancellor Gordon Brown was told his tax on pensions introduced in the 1997 budget would have terrible consequences for pensioners, but that he proceeded anyway. Ken Clarke MP, his predecessor as Chancellor, called Gordon’s judgement into question and has accused him of spinning the story in an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme, this morning.

The Chancellor’s Treasury team have replied saying that everyone else thought is was a good idea at the time. They have cited the CBI as a supporter of the move, which its current director-general, Richard Lambert, said was rubbish. The Treasury responded saying that Adair (now Lord) Turner, the DG at the time, had approved it. Turner has now denied this.

What strikes me as incompetent here is not the original mistake (which was an idea widely discussed and dismissed as stupid by economists at the time) but the mess they are making of cleaning up the story. Surely someone must have thought that if they were going to say Adair Turner and the CBI were in favour of the move, it might be wise to check that they would confirm that when asked. But it seems not.

That betrays a shocking lack of forethought or an over-arching arrogance that the Treasury is right, despite what common sense and informed opinion might say. Which all rather goes to back-up the original story, which is part of pattern we have noted on this blog previously, see here and here.

What is wrong with British Foreign Policy? Quite a lot, it seems

Tomorrow, Tuesday 3 April, sees the TRG launch a new publication, “What is Wrong with British Foreign Policy?”. We have drawn together several leading figures from public life to examine important aspects of the current system for developing foreign policy. This is a timely topic as Lord Hurd observes:

“Not since Suez has there been a time of such general anxiety and disappointment about our overseas policies. As we remember the Suez failure fifty years ago, some of the lessons are the same; it is just that our rulers have not learned them.”

The pamphlet will form part of our series, “Radical Ideas in the One Nation Tradition”. What makes this different is that each contributor has been asked to make a definite proposal to fix the problem they have identified.

TRG board member Tim Crockford, who edited the pamphlet, has done an excellent job in pulling together a first-class selection of authors:

- Rt Hon William Hague MP, Forward
- Rt Hon Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC, “The Trouble with Our Foreign Policy”
- Sir Christopher Meyer KCMG, “It’s the National Interest, Stupid”
- Rt Hon Michael Mates MP, “The Role of Intelligence in Foreign Policy Making”
- Rt Hon Sir Macolm Rifkind KCMG QC MP, “The Special Relationship”
- John Bercow MP and Victoria Roberts, “Welfare and Weapons”
- Dr Charles Tannock MEP, “Challenges for Europe”
- Rt Hon Lord King of Bridgwater CH, Postscript

In his article, Sir Christopher Meyer, formerly British Ambassador to the United States, argues for a revival of the British national interest as the defining rule of British foreign policy. He writes:

“It is increasingly fashionable to assert that globalisation has rendered the idea of national interest redundant… [This] is dangerous and misleading. It removes the indispensable foundation of British foreign policy…it’s time to get back to basics. Accept that there is such a thing as the national interest. Define it. Ask what advances it; and what damages it. Then construct a foreign policy around the answers.”

The publication will be launched at a reception at the Royal Overseas League in St James, London at 6.30pm on Tuesday 3 April 2007. Lord Hurd and Sir Christopher Meyer will be present.

All TRG members, Conservative Party Members and representatives of the press will be welcome but prior notification of attendance is required.

Given the high-level of foreign policy issues that dominate the news and political agendas at this moment, this publication is timely and I am extremely proud of the TRG for having produced it. It will be made available to all TRG members soon and will be on sale to the general public.